Charles Peguy
Charles Peguy
Charles Pierre Péguywas a noted French poet, essayist, and editor. His two main philosophies were socialism and nationalism, but by 1908 at the latest, after years of uneasy agnosticism, he had become a believing but non-practicing Roman Catholic. From that time, Catholicism strongly influenced his works...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth7 January 1873
CountryFrance
inspirational difficult
We must always tell what we see. Above all, and this is more difficult, we must always see what we see.
morning today newspapers
Homer is new this morning, and perhaps nothing is as old as today's newspaper.
courage
Freedom is a system based on courage.
writing tears pockets
A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket.
courage progressive cowardice
We shall never know how many acts of cowardice have been motivated by the fear of appearing not sufficiently progressive.
cannot french-philosopher genius imagine man rich
Short of genius a rich man cannot even imagine poverty.
libertarian-party liberty tyranny
Tyranny is always better organized than freedom.
tragedy saint has-beens
Life holds only one tragedy, ultimately: not to have been a saint.
peace war justice
It is better to have a war for justice than peace in injustice.
left
There will be things that I do that no one will be left to understand.
happiness men salvation
It has never been given to a man to attain at once his happiness and his salvation.
loss justice people
We said that a single injustice, a single crime, a single illegality, particularly if it is officially recorded, confirmed, a single wrong to humanity, a single wrong to justice and to right, particularly if it is universally, legally, nationally, commodiously accepted, that a single crime shatters and is sufficient to shatter the whole social pact, the whole social contract, that a single legal crime, a single dishonorable act will bring about the loss of ones honor, the dishonor of a whole people. It is a touch of gangrene that corrupts the entire body.
honesty men infidelity
The life of an honest man must be a perpetual infidelity.
betrayal betrayed traitor
One has not the right to betray even a traitor. Traitors must be fought, got betrayed.